Cool Hand Bob Part II

David Weir analyzes many of Bob Dylan’s song lyrics too much methinks through the lens of canonized Christian dogma, but assures us he is not imposing any religious message on the songs.

Kees de Graaf, on the other hand, comes to praise Dylan for his supposed Christian beliefs, but ends up burying Dylan’s figurative language underneath page upon page upon page that expound de Graaf’s own Christian beliefs. In a nutshell, Jesus Christ is the one and only answer to all the world’s problems.

The Bible, of course, is composed of two major books – the Old and the New Testaments with both of them composed of many smaller ‘books.’ Bob Dylan often references these major works in his song lyrics, but we really do not know what his personal spiritual beliefs are.

What we do have in front of us is his music and his song lyrics even though he quite often revises both of these aspects of his art form as well. To me it seems, if not into art for its own sake, Dylan is a seeker of knowledge, and his life experiences be a teacher that gives no definitive or simple answers. He also looks to traditional folk and blues songs, as well as to an assortment of literary and dramatic works; movies, too.

Regardless of what de Graaf thinks, Dylan’s song lyrics tend to present a Gnostic, if not Gothic, view of worldly existence – a dark, overly materialistic place in which everybody’s trapped, but from which the rebellious persona in his songs attempts to escape – in both body and spirit – through the door of empathy, a door that is seldom open:

As I walked out one morning To breathe the air around Tom Paine'sI spied the fairest damsel that ever did walk in chainsI offered her my handShe took me by the armI knew that very instant She meant to do me harm

(Bob Dylan: As I Went Out One Morning)

Time waits for no one – wish though we might that it would, the human body cannot remain forever young; attention has to be paid:

My clothes are wet, tight on my skinNot as tight as the corner that I painted myself inI know that fortune is waitin' to be kindSo give me your hand, and say you are mine

(Bob Dylan: Mississippi)

Between then and there, the hand revealed is the one dealt to us in the poker game of life – go ask Willie Loman, he knows:

I've been trying to get as far away from myself as I canSome things are too hot to touchThe human mind can only stand so muchYou can't win with a losing hand

(Bob Dylan: Things Have Changed)

Poor Willie – the American Dream turns into a nightmare (‘Death Of A Salesman’ by Jewish American author Arthur Miller). The myth of the freedom-loving frontier cowboy (including outlaws with hearts of gold) lives on – perpetuated in Western movies, often produced by Jews who escaped the horrors of persecution by fleeing to America (Wyatt Earp is buried in a Jewish cemetary in California):

John Wesley HardingWas a friend to the poorHe travelled with a gun in every handHe opened many a doorBut he was never knownTo hurt an honest man

(Bob Dylan: John Wesley Harding)

Meanwhile back at the ranch, many of the song lyrics by Bob Dylan compare modern America to the biblical Babylon of old:

There's a woman on my lapand she's drinking champagneGot white skin, got assassin's eyes....This place ain't doing me any goodI'm in the wrong town, I should be in Hollywood

(Bob Dylan: Things Have Changed)

The only thing we know for sure about Bob Dylan is that his name isn’t Bob Dylan, and that his persona has no fondness for the hypocritical behaviour of supposedly religious leaders; nor for any of their like-minded followers:

Well, I'm grinding my life out, steady and sureNothing more wretched than what I must endure ....Low cards are what I've gotBut I'll play this hand whether I like it or not

(Bob Dylan: Pay In Blood)

As did Jewish American actor Paul Newman in the movie ‘Cool Hand Luke’.